Wyndham Orlando "Resort" - Nightmare
 

Got a call from Mrs Ruffles this morning who is staying here on business for the next few days.

Things got off on the wrong foot when it took her over 45 minutes to check-in and was given - a woman traveling on her own - a first floor room with an exterior door and plate glass window far away. (She didn't know at the time that they had rooms with interior doors or she would have asked to change at that time.)

The room was musty, smelled of bleach, and had numerous curious rust-colored stains on the bedskirt and bathroom walls. Not ideal but not unexpected at this low midrange hotel. (It wouldn't have been her choice but her company booked her and her colleagues here.)

The kicker came this morning at 2 am when she was awakened by the sound of breaking glass. And it wasn't just the sound of a single beer bottle being tossed, it was some serious glass breaking. As you can imagine, she was pretty freaked out and called the front desk thinking there might be a fight or someone trying to break into a room.

The night manager nonchalantly told her not to worry (a little late for that now) as the glass breaking was the hotel's doing - they needed to get into a room and had to break the plate glass window to get in. And nothing in the way of an apology was offered. This did little to soothe her nerves as she couldn't help but wonder: (1) why did they need to break into a room and (2) why did they have to break a window to do it? (don't they have a pass key?).

She somehow managed to fall back asleep for a little bit when she heard furniture being moved around in the room above her around 3 am (the rooms weren't carpeted) and when she called the front desk she was told there was nothing going on. Then at 4 am the alarm clock went off (set by the previous guest).

Needless to say she called the front desk this morning and demanded a room change. Only then did she discover that the hotel had rooms with interior doors and carpeting and had golf carts to shuttle guests to their rooms.

Mrs Ruffles already hated going to Orlando on business due to the paucity of taxis and decent food but this took the cake by a long shot.

Pretty much sums it up:cool:

I've not stayed at the Wyndham but will keep this thread in mind for future reference. I'm an Orlando veteran, however, and can tell you that in such a spread out area, taxis are nearly useless. Much better if you have a rental car.

And, if your wife wants to get to the part of the Orlando area that it sounds as if she might like, tell her to head to downtown Winter Park. It's just north of Orlando, so a long drive from the Convention Center area, but it has a cobblestone main street, good shopping, and a number of decent restaurants.

Go east from either the Fairbanks Avenue or Lee Road exits off I-4 and head to Park Avenue--a GPS is a definite help here. There are other upscale areas in and around Orlando, but Winter Park has always been the refuge for me from the glitz and the chain places that you'll find in most of those areas.

Thanks for the much appreciated advice.

From previous business trips, Mrs R would definitely agree as to the superiority of a rental car - it would save her an incredible amount of time as she has meetings at multiple locations throughout the day and evening (which unfortunately would keep her from getting to Winter Park even if she had one).

Incredibly, her current employer frowns on their use even in an area such as Orlando (and even though it would probably save them money). On one of her first trips on this job to a similar location she rented a car without giving it a second thought, and when she returned they looked at her like she had two heads.

Having suffered through similar craptastic company lodging myself (same first floor room with exterior door for solo female plus the bedding looked so crunchy that I opted to sleep in my jeans, this was a Comfort Inn in Waterloo, ON), I can definitely feel her pain. Given the huge selection of cheap hotels in the area, many with free shuttles, would she be willing to pay for an alternate hotel of her choice? I hate coming out of my own pocket for business travel, but I hate feeling dirty or unsafe even more. In her circumstance, in Orlando, I'd be tempted to just go elsewhere and shuttle back and forth to the work event.

If she's near I-drive, a visit o Cafe Tu Tu Tango might ease the pain.

She can add up her taxi receipts from the last few trips and compare it to the average cost of renting a car for that number of days (plus gas & parking). If it really is cheaper, and she justifies it, won't her company appreciate the effort to save money?